New stock in the Etsy shop.

 

I added a few new digital stamps to my Etsy shop this weekend. 

Cats.

Abyssinian kitten playing.

Billybob 

Hello

Dogs.

Chihuahua

 

Dixie

Pomeranian

 

I also did a couple of pieces from other artists.

Ching-Chou Kuik’s ‘Love in Spring’

This piece was created by adding the PNG file to a stock image of a Christmas tree which I zoomed in on to get a close up shot of one branch with the lights in soft effect behind.  I then positioned the image onto the branch.  The image was then coloured up using Spectrum Noir marker pens overlaid with Spectrum Noir pencils.  The hair was the only section that pencils were not used on, instead I used three different gel pens a yellow glitter, a gold and a silver.

The East Wind’s ‘Creepmas’

Simply B Stamps’ ‘Gothic Elf’

Both of the above pictures were coloured using a combination of Prismacolor pencils and Marco Raffine oil based pencils.

A combination of the last two was also done for their joint challenge, for which I designed a parcel for Gothic Elf called ‘Cat in a box’.

Finally I did this piece also from Simply B Stamps.

‘Busty Beauty Zombie’ was done using Prismacolor pencils.  I used a blender pencil to help the colours merge at the end. 

A couple of Bow Cards made recently.

 

I used a template from http://sandrasscrapshop.blogspot.nl/2014/08/91-strikkaart-patroon-bow-card-template.html to create all of these bow cards. 

 

This first one is made using papers and elements from the MicheleRDesigns ‘Falling Snowflakes’ downloadable papers and elements sets which are available from her shop on the Etsy platform.  https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/MicheleRDesign.

The swirls were made using a tattered lace mini die http://www.crafting.co.uk/index.php/shop-by-brand/tattered-lace/mini-dies/tattered-lace-mini-dies-swirls-border.html   

These were cut from the same papers as the rest of the bow, then ‘glazed’ using clear embossing powder and heat gun.  Finally I finished by adding ‘White Opal Liquid Pears’ from Ranger and ‘Glistening Snow Writer’ from DecoArt to give the twinkle to the centre image and a bronze gel pen around the frame of the centre embellishment.

This second card was actually the first one I made.  Papers are from the 2014 Christmas Crafters Inspiration magazine free CD, and are traditional images of Christmas.  To this I added paper mache roses in complimentary tones edged in ‘Frosted Lace’ Stickles from Ranger.  The embellishments are made from a Christmas die edging strip cut from white card and coated in copper embossing powder double heated then coated again in clear powder and heated for a third time.  This has made the card stiff but malleable like real copper.  The fancy lattice effect is from a die exclusive to the 2015 Christmas Crafters Inspiration magazine, called ‘Die’sire Edge’ables Lattice Flourish.  I finished the flourish with ‘White Opal Liquid Pearls’ from Ranger.

 

These next two are actually twice the size of the others, and made to the actual size of the template from Sandra.  The template is A4 size for these and I scaled it down to A5 for the first two cards shown.

 

Both cards used papers that I downloaded from the Create and Craft website, the red and blue one was made from plain white card stock which I painted with red LuminArte iridescent watercolour paint.  the paper was the 5/12 sheet from the Frosted Night Sky download.  to this I then added a wreath taken from the elements section of the Octavia Frosted Winter CD from Polkadoodles.  The reindeer is from a die set from Creative Dies called Elegant Reindeer and the snowflakes are from a punch from Hobbycraft. I used a Tattered Lace Christmas Tree die which I cut up to get the tree swirl at the top of the card and the bow from the Elegant Reindeer die set. Everything else including the red poinsettias are from my craft stash.

The green and cranberry card below was done again on plain white card stock, painted with green watercolour from my LuminArte set and the papers this time were from the All Wrapped Up Cranberry set using pages 8 and 10 of 10.  The wreath and baubles used came from the Octavia Frosted Winter CD and the swirls were from the Tattered Lace Christmas Tree and the Elegant Reindeer dies.  Ribbon was from my stash.

 

My desktop background picture

 

I did this colouring about three weeks ago.  It is now my desktop background image on my laptop and also the background image on my phone.

The digital image is from the ‘Octavia Frosted Winter CD’ which is available from Polkadoodles at: http://www.polkadoodles.co.uk/frosted-winter-octavia-digital-downloadable-cd-rom-crafting-collection/

This was coloured using Prismacolor pencils and Marco Raffine oil pencils.  I added some gold glitter pen to the staff and DecoArt Glistening Snow Writer to the icicles and ground.

Over the last week or so.

 

I have been taking a break for a few days recently so haven’t done much in the way of artwork. 

I did however get a light box last week and decided to do a few quick sketches then try to convert them to line drawings using the light box. 

These are what I produced – very rough and ready but I am now working on them in a graphics program to tidy them up.

Once I am satisfied with them they will be added to my Etsy shop  which you can access by clicking the link on the right hand side of this page.

If anyone is interested in purchasing one of the limited edition rubber stamps of my Trust image – the babies hand grasping the adults finger – they are available for £4 plus the relevant postage to your country.  The stamped image measures 9.5cm x 3.5cm.  These haven’t been added to the Etsy shop yet, but may be in the near future.  For now if you want to purchase one just email me at jmbeadedjewels@gmail.com.

 

So – here are the few images I produced over the last few days – themed around my cats.  I have two Abyssinians and a Havana.  The Havana is the only one that I have had since he was a kitten, so the picture of the kitten playing was done by looking at a breeders website pictures for inspiration as the body shape of a kitten if far different from that of a fully grown cat.  I chose to then colour up the kitten image to the colours of my oldest Abyssinian Sparkie.  I just adore the Sorrel colour. 

 

 

 

The Boys.

   

The Pencil Case

 

The Pencil Case is a Facebook group dedicated to promoting Lyra Rembrandt Polycolour pencils in the UK. 

I don’t have any of these pencils yet, but that doesn’t mean  can’t take part in their blog challenges, which are not limited to Lyra but do insist on finished projects not just images coloured up.

So when I had finished colouring this image from Sassy Studio Designs I looked for a way I could turn it into a project.

I don’t have a lot of experience doing these sort of projects but I do like to experiment so that’s just what I did.

Coloured using Marco Raffine greys and blues with a hint of skin tone I then layered it onto a backing paper.  To make it stand out, after photographing it and loading into the computer I used MS paint to add a layered mat effect then added my watermark using Adobe Paintshop CS2.

As you can see I have a new watermark, with my ‘real’ name on it and of course a picture a wonderful Abyssinian cat.

The watermark was created for me by Eileen over at http://eiglassing.blogspot.co.uk/ a fantastic artist. 

‘Dance Off’ is now finished.

 

Two ladies meet in a 'Dance Off'.

Flower Ballerina and Stardancer were the perfect choice for this project for me, especially with the flowing ribbons on the Stardancer.

I've used a mix of Prismacolor pencils, oil based Marco Raffine pencils and LuminArte iridescent watercolours for the main image with embellishments of sequin flowers and stars and a breast cancer awareness ribbon.

I finished this last night, and photographed it with flash to highlight the iridescent background and make it appear as if the dancers are meeting in mid air.

This has now been entered into the Stamps by Aurora Wings October Challenge.

As I mentioned a couple of days ago the main image was done using

Flower Ballerina colours were Light Peach – PC927, Blush Pink – PC928, Pink Rose – PC1018 for the skin with the darkest tone Salmon Pink – PC1001.  Pink – PC929, Process Red – PC994, Hot Pink – PC993, Mulberry – PC995 and Marine Green – PC988 for the dress and pointe shoes.  Finally Pumpkin Orange – PC1032 and Orange – PC916 for the hair.

Star Dancer colours were flesh tones – 518, 519, and 520.  Pinks in the dress were 512, 513, and 516.  The stars were done with dark plum 525 and the hair was browns 553, 559 and 563.

The background LuminArte colours were Natural Linen, Chiffon Pink, Cherry Sorbet and Mustard Green, with hints of Iridescent Red in the Star Dancers hair.

The border around the image is a MicheleRDesigns paper from her Shabby Chic collection, and the sequins are from a packet of mixed shapes and sizes pink and orange sequins purchased in Poundland.  The Breast Cancer Awareness ribbon was sourced from the internet and came as a PNG image from Cliparts.co and is a free download.  http://cliparts.co/clipart/19078 

Procrastinating Again.

 

 

As the wind blows it's biting chill across the land,

from the sea the rain gallops in.

The sun plays hide and seek with the clouds

and the clock ticks its steady beat.

Here I sit and watch the day fly by,

leaving me behind in its race for glory.

Tomorrow is another day,

to love, to live to write and fight.

But for now I say goodbye to you as I turn the page.

AND GET ON WITH THE WORK I'M MEANT TO DO.

WOW! Well I didn’t expect that.

 

My entry into last months Stamps by Aurora Wings Facebook challenge was chosen as one of the top three.

It’s always such a nice feeling when someone else likes the pieces you produce. 

 

This months challenge can be found here: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=oa.498441526992208&type=1

I thought about this one for a while, then looked through all my Aurora Wings digi stamps.  With October being Breast Cancer Awareness month, and the challenge being pink to celebrate this I wanted something delicate and ethereal.  I had the perfect TWO images.

To combine the two I needed to convert them from JPG images to PNG images, and with Mitzi’s permission I produced this image.  I used Photoshop to convert them and Serif Craft Artist 2 to combine them.

The individual images can be purchased in jpg format from Aurora Wings Etsy store.

This is how far I have gotten.  I now just have to turn this into a mixed media piece now. 

Each dancer is coloured in different types of pencils.  The Flower Ballerina on the left was coloured using Prismacolor pencils.  The Star Dancer on the right was coloured using Marco Raffine artists oil pencils.  I created the background with LuminArte iridescent watercolours.

Flower Ballerina colours used were Light Peach – PC927, Blush Pink – PC928, Pink Rose – PC1018 for the skin with the darkest tone Salmon Pink – PC1001.  Pink – PC929, Process Red – PC994, Hot Pink – PC993, Mulberry – PC995 and Marine Green – PC988 for the dress and pointe shoes.  Finally I used Pumpkin Orange – PC1032 and Orange – PC916 for the hair.

Star Dancer colours used were flesh tones – 518, 519, and 520.  Pinks in the dress were 512, 513, and 516.  The stars were done with dark plum 525 and the hair was browns 553, 559 and 563.

The background LuminArte colours used were Natural Linen, Chiffon Pink, Cherry Sorbet and Mustard Green, with hints of Iridescent Red in the Star Dancers hair.

The last couple of months.

 

Well I’ve had a strange few weeks.  On 8th August I had a little accident and am now recuperating.  It has meant that I’ve had a lot of time to craft, but little energy or inclination to do it.  I have been in a lot of pain and this is the main reason for the lack of inclination.

That doesn’t mean I haven't done any however. 

A few days before the accident my grandchildren were asked to chose one colour each for me to use in this wonderful digital image

Love in Spring by Ching-Chou Kuik  Available here:

https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/230698242/love-in-spring-digital-stamp-instant?ref=shop_home_active_16&ga_search_query=love

My grand daughter Ruby chose pink, and my grandson Ty chose gold.  So we worked together choosing where each colour would go before I started the piece, then when they went off to play and swim and enjoy the summer days, I coloured the image up using my Prismacolor pencils.

 

 

Following on from this image I chose an Andreia Silva image.  Andreia is the artist at MoonFlower Digistamps.  Once a month around the 15th Andreia sends out her newsletter and in each newsletter she gives a free image.

This one was from the August newsletter, and is called Gypsy Flower,

 

and can be found now on her sales page at:

https://my.digitalgoodsstore.com/product/1ceft

For this image I chose to use my Artist quality Marco Raffine pencils which are oil based pencils.  They were not the most expensive crayons out there, and are made in China, but the colours are rich and deep and the ‘leads’ give a nice smooth texture and are nice and easy to blend.  The only negative I can say about them is that there are only 72 pencils in the range two of which are gold and silver metallics.

I started this one at around 12 one night and got as far as the hair before deciding to leave her for the morning.

 

The hair turned out better than I could ever have dreamed, next stage was to do the skin, because this is the element I usually do first, just in case it goes wrong and ruins the image. 

So with a deep breath I set to work, and got the skin just so.  Then I chose a pale yellow for the dress.  With the pale yellow I added a shade deeper for shadows and took a rubber to the highlights and eventually finished this little lady off.  I think for a first attempt she looks fine.

 

Facebook Groups.

I am a member of several Facebook colouring groups.  Each one has it’s own merits.  If I find an artist whose images I like I will join their Facebook group or the group set up by their fans.  For two of the groups I am in I have done a couple of challenges in the last month. 

Stamps by Aurora Wings.

This is one of the first groups I joined.  The artist whose work is showcased in this group is Mitzi Sato-Wiuff.  Again you can find Mitzi’s shop on the Etsy platform.

https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/164726619/digital-stamp-instant-download-red?ref=shop_home_active_11&ga_search_query=red%2Bpoppies

The first image I did this month was not for the Facebook group challenge though, it was one I was sent after donating to one of the charities being supported – Colouring for Clean Water for which Mitzi did this image. 

  

 

This is my finished piece.  I used the Marco Raffine pencils again for this image, then chose to put an iridescent wash of pearlescent paint over the top of the mermaid’s skin and the shells.

 

Now I had a very strange experience with this image.  During the night, after getting to this stage  with the only light in the room the laptop screen behind the picture I woke up with a start.  Now I’m very short sighted, so all I saw glowing on the desk was a skeleton with holes where the eyes should be.  Her shoulders arms and face are done in such a way that the ‘bones’ were done in a pink tinged pearlescent paint.  You can just see the colour on the shoulder and face, – unfortunately the eye shadow does not glow, and neither does the lips hair or shell.  Creepy is not the word.

 

My Autumn challenge piece for the group is from the Red Poppies image, my all time favourite Mitzi piece – and I have a lot of her images

 

This image was done using my Spectrum Noir markers to lay down a base of solid colour then I went over the top with the Spectrum Noir pencils to build up the image.  Using the two mediums together gives a depth to the image that you cant get with just one or the other.

      

I chose the Poppies image this time though as for me Autumn means the coming of the colder nights, and seeing everyone wearing the poopy in their lapels or tucked into top pockets of their shirts.  The red poppy is the iconic symbol in the UK of our Remembrance day, the day we stop and spend time thinking about all those brave men and women who have given their lives fighting in wars to safeguard our freedom and way of life.  This is always celebrated on the Sunday closest to 11th of November.  We also have a minutes silence on the actual day 11th November at 11am. 

MoonFlower Digital Stamps.

MoonFlower’s August challenge was On the Blue - 

This was done using Spectrum Noir pencils on their own.  I was trying to get more Afro Caribbean skin tones but the colours didn’t give enough depth of tone once the rest of the image was coloured up.  I began this image with the skin and thought I had it just right, but once the hair and clothes were completed the skin just didn’t work. 

 

    

    

which was followed this month with Autumn Colours.

I chose to use the Spectrum Noir markers to lay down a base of colour again for this image, but instead of sticking with the Spectrum Noir brand I went instead for the Marco Raffine pencils to finish the image. 

        

   

 

The image I used for the Autumn Colours challenge is called Tumbelina Faery. 

 

Well that's all for now.  My crayons are calling to me, and so are the cats.  Must give them their hourly cuddles and start on my next colouring piece.